Systems and Methods for Generating Audio or Video Presentation Heat Maps

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for creating and distributing presentations and determining on an individual or aggregate basis the extent to which the presentations are viewed by the intended recipients. Speech recognition software may be used to provide a detailed analysis of presentation playback.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/180,506, filed on Nov. 5, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/984,049, filed on May 18, 2018, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/644,113, filed on Mar. 16, 2018. The entire contents of theseapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Millions of video cameras and computer and photo devices that recordvideo are sold worldwide each year in both the professional and consumermarkets. Those cameras and devices are used to record an untold amountof video each year. Editing the video is one of the most important stepsin transforming the recorded raw visuals into valuable, concise,engaging, and/or coherent content.

Corporations and other organizations spend significant time andresources to create videos used, for example, to market the company orits products, or to recruit potential hires for employmentopportunities. The videos may include, for example, footage of employeesengaged in work at the company, interviews of employees describing theirexperience at the company, or products the company offers for sale.

In the professional video-production market, billions of dollars,significant time, and other resources are spent editing video—taking rawfootage shot with video cameras and devices, loading it into videoediting software platforms, reviewing the footage to find the mostcompelling portions, and assembling the compelling portions in a fashionthat communicates or illustrates the requisite message or story in afocused, engaging way. The editing process may also include addingprofessional footage transitions, soundtrack layers, and effects toenhance the video. But considering the time, money, and expertise ofteninvested to edit video to a professional level or compellingpresentation level, the video editing process can be a daunting task forthe average consumer. Even for the video editing professional, it is notuncommon for a high quality video production workflow to take 30 timeslonger than the finished video time. For example, a finished two-minutevideo can take 75 minutes to edit using traditional video editingsoftware. Beyond the significant time investment, the average consumerdoes not have the necessary technical skill required to proficiently usevideo editing software, or the advanced shot sequencing, enhancing, andcombining expertise acquired by professional producers at great cost.

For these reasons, the average consumer typically does not have theresources to transform the raw footage he or she films into professionalgrade video presentations. Creating documentary-grade video stories,complete with narration and overlaid support footage, and edited intoconcise presentations, is out of reach for most people. Consumers ofteninstead settle for overly long collections of un-edited, aimless videoclips that are dull to watch due to their rambling nature, at best usingconsumer software to add color or visual overlays to dress up the videofootage. In the alternative, when consumers hire professional videoeditors for events such as weddings, birthdays, or family sports events,they typically must spend significant funds to do so.

Video can also be used as part of a company's direct sales plan. Mostsalespersons deliver messages in analogue ways, for example inconversations at customer offices or by phone. Because of the inherentvariability in message delivery by each salesperson and the lack offeedback to measure delivery, when a company develops a preferredmessage for salespersons to deliver, it is often difficult to determineif, in fact, the salespersons are delivering the proper messages, andwhether the messages are viewed by customers.

Each salesperson may individually record an audio or video presentationbased on messages provided by the company, and deliver the message toeach of the salesperson's customers or clients. But choosing aneffective and compelling message, especially when selling products, iscritical for success. And measuring the effectiveness of presentationscan be difficult.

There is a need for methods and apparatuses that are easy to use,configure, and/or adapt to facilitate, transform, and automate theprocess of creating, enhancing, and editing videos. Such methods andapparatuses would increase the effectiveness, efficiency and usersatisfaction by producing polished, enhanced video content, therebyopening up the proven, powerful communication and documentation power ofprofessionally edited video to a much wider group of business andpersonal applications. There is also a need for methods and systems tomeasure whether certain audio or video messages are delivered, and theextent to which those messages are played by the intended audience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the invention can be obtained by reference toembodiments set forth in the illustrations of the accompanying drawings.Although the illustrated embodiments are merely exemplary of systems,methods, and apparatuses for carrying out the invention, both theorganization and method of operation of the invention, in general,together with further objectives and advantages thereof, may be moreeasily understood by reference to the drawings and the followingdescription.

Also, the drawings are not intended to limit the scope of thisinvention, which is set forth with particularity in the claims asappended hereto or as subsequently amended, but merely to clarify andexemplify the invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative computing device usedin the practice of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart depicting several steps in an illustrativeembodiment of the method of the invention.

FIGS. 3A-3C are schematic diagrams depicting the application of anillustrative embodiment of an automatic video editing algorithm to amaster video and video clips in an illustrative embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting several steps in an illustrativeembodiment of the method of the invention.

FIG. 5 depicts a display of an exemplary text heat map.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention may be understood more readily by reference to thefollowing detailed descriptions of embodiments of the invention.However, techniques, systems, and operating structures in accordancewith the invention may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and modes,some of which may be quite different from those in the disclosedembodiments. Also, the features and elements disclosed herein may becombined to form various combinations without exclusivity, unlessexpressly stated otherwise. Consequently, the specific structural andfunctional details disclosed herein are merely representative. Yet, inthat regard, they are deemed to afford the best embodiment for purposesof disclosure and to provide a basis for the claims herein, which definethe scope of the invention. It must be noted that, as used in thespecification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, and“the” include plural referents unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise.

Reference is made in detail to embodiments, examples of which areillustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following schematic,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knownmethods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks have not beendescribed in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of theembodiments.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a computing device 100 that may be usedin the practice of the invention. Device 100 comprises a processing unit110, network interface circuitry 120, audio circuitry 130, external port140, an I/O video clip system 150 and a memory 170. Processing unitcomprises one or more processors 112, a memory controller 114, and aperipherals interface 116, connected by a bus 190. I/O subsystemincludes a display controller 152 and a display 153, one or more cameracontrollers 155 and associated camera(s) 156, a keyboard controller 158and keyboard 159, and one or more other I/O controllers 161 andassociated I/O devices 162. Memory 170 provides general purpose storage171 for device 100 as well as storage for software for operating thedevice such as an operating system 172, a communication module 173, acontact/motion module 174, a graphics module 175, a text input module176, and various application programs 180. The applications programs mayinclude a video conference module 182, a camera module 183, an imagemanagement module 184, a video player module 185 and a music playermodule 186.

The network interface circuitry 120 communicates with communicationsnetworks via electromagnetic signals. Network circuitry 120 may includewell-known communication circuitry including but not limited to anantenna system, a network transceiver, one or more amplifiers, a tuner,one or more oscillators, a digital signal processor, a CODEC chipset, asubscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory, and so forth. Networkcircuitry 120 may communicate with networks, such as the Internet, alsoreferred to as the World Wide Web (WWW), an intranet and/or a wirelessnetwork, such as a cellular telephone network, a wireless local areanetwork (LAN) and/or a metropolitan area network (MAN), and otherdevices by wireless communication. The wireless communication may useany of a plurality of communications standards, protocols andtechnologies, including but not limited to Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), high-speeddownlink packet access (HSDPA), wideband code division multiple access(W-CDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multipleaccess (TDMA), Bluetooth, Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) (e.g., IEEE 802.11a,IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11 g and/or IEEE 802.11n), Wi-MAX, a protocol foremail (e.g., Internet message access protocol (IMAP) and/or post officeprotocol (POP)), instant messaging (e.g., extensible messaging andpresence protocol (XMPP), Session Initiation Protocol for InstantMessaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE), and/or InstantMessaging and Presence Service (IMPS)), and/or Short Message Service(SMS)), or any other suitable communication protocol, includingcommunication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of thisdocument.

The audio circuitry 130, including a microphone 132 and a speaker 134,provides an audio interface between a user and the device 100. The audiocircuitry 130 receives digital audio data from the peripherals interface116, converts the digital audio data to an analog electrical signal, andtransmits the electrical signal to the speaker 134. The speaker 134converts the analog electrical signal to human-audible sound waves. Theaudio circuitry 130 also receives analog electrical signals converted bythe microphone 132 from sound waves and converts the analog electricalsignal to digital audio data that is transmitted to the peripheralsinterface 116 for processing. Digital audio data may be retrieved fromand/or transmitted to memory 170 and/or the network interface circuitry120 by the peripherals interface 116. In some embodiments, the audiocircuitry 130 also includes a USB audio jack. The USB audio jackprovides an interface between the audio circuitry 130 and removableaudio input/output peripherals, such as output-only headphones or amicrophone.

The I/O subsystem 150 couples input/output peripherals on the device100, such as display 153, camera 156, keyboard 159 and otherinput/output devices 162, to the peripherals interface 116.Advantageously, display 153, camera 156, microphone 132, and speaker 134may all be part of a cell-phone such as an iPhone or similar smartphone.Display 153 may be a touch screen device. As is known in the art, atouch screen display is able to sense when and where its display screenis touched or tapped and correlate the touching with what is displayedat that time and location to derive an input. The I/O subsystem 150 mayinclude a display controller 152, a camera controller 155, a keyboardcontroller 158, and one or more other input/output controllers 161 forother input or output devices. The one or more other I/O controllers 161receive/send electrical signals from/to other input/output devices 162.The other input/control devices 162 may include physical buttons (e.g.,push buttons, rocker buttons, etc.), dials, slider switches, joysticks,click wheels, track balls, and so forth. In some alternate embodiments,I/O controller(s) 161 may be coupled to any (or none) of the following:an infrared port, USB port, and a pointer device such as a mouse. Theone or more buttons may include an up/down button for volume control ofthe speaker 134 and/or the microphone 132.

The device 100 may also include one or more video cameras 156.Illustratively, the video camera may include charge-coupled device (CCD)or complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) phototransistors. Thevideo camera may receive light from the environment, projected throughone or more lens, and convert the light to data representing an image.In conjunction with an imaging module, the video camera may be embeddedwithin the computing device, and in some embodiments, the video cameracan be mounted in a separate camera housing for both video conferencingand still and/or video image acquisition.

Memory 170 may include high-speed random access memory and may alsoinclude non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic disk storagedevices, flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid-state memorydevices. Memory 170 may be implemented in one or more physical units.Access to memory 170 by other components of the device 100, such as theprocessor(s) 112 and the peripherals interface 116, may be controlled bythe memory controller 114.

The operating system 172 (e.g., Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X,WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks) includesvarious software components and/or drivers for controlling and managinggeneral system tasks (e.g., memory management, storage device control,power management, etc.) and facilitates communication between varioushardware and software components.

The communication module 173 facilitates communication with otherdevices over one or more external ports 140 and also includes varioussoftware components for handling data received by or transmitted fromthe network interface circuitry 120.

The graphics module 175 includes various known software components forrendering and displaying the GUI, including components for changing theintensity of graphics that are displayed. As used herein, the term“graphics” includes any object that can be displayed to a user,including without limitation text, icons (such as user-interface objectsincluding soft keys), digital images, videos, animations and the like.

In conjunction with keyboard 159, display controller 152, camera(s) 156,camera controller 155, microphone 132, and graphics module 175, thecamera module 183 may be used to capture still images or video(including a video stream) and store them in memory 170, modifycharacteristics of a still image or video, or delete a still image orvideo from memory 170. Embodiments of user interfaces and associatedprocesses using camera(s) 156 are described further below.

In conjunction with keyboard 159, display controller 152, display 153,graphics module 175, audio circuitry 130, and speaker 134, the videoplayer module 185 may be used to display, present or otherwise play backvideos (on an external, connected display via external port 140 or aninternal display). Embodiments of user interfaces and associatedprocesses using video player module 185 are described further below.

It should be appreciated that the device 100 is only one example of amultifunction device, and that the device 100 may have more or fewercomponents than shown, may combine two or more components, or a may havea different configuration or arrangement of the components. The variouscomponents shown in FIG. 1 may be implemented in hardware, software or acombination of both hardware and software, including one or more signalprocessing and/or application specific integrated circuits.

In some embodiments, the peripherals interface 116, the CPU 112, and thememory controller 114 may be implemented on a single integrated circuitchip. In some other embodiments, they may be implemented on separatechips.

As set forth above, software for controlling the operation of device 100is stored in memory 170. In accordance with the invention, the softwareincludes instructions that when executed by processor(s) 112 causedevice 100 to edit video files stored in memory 170 to produce afinished video presentation.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart depicting the steps performed by the software ofdevice 100 in an illustrative embodiment of the invention. At Step 210,video content including one or more video files may be stored in memory(170). “Video content” or “video file” as those term are used herein ismeant to be broadly interpreted to include any type recorded video (withor without recorded audio), one or more digital photographs, a collageof photographs, a presentation slide, or any other visual medium. Forexample, video content may be animated photos comprising a plurality ofphotos that are transformed into a video clip by reusing pixels from thephotos in successive frames with a visual transformation (such aszooming in on the photo).

Each video file stored in memory (170) may have associated metadata,including one or more tags. One or more tags may relate to the subjectof the video in the video file, the location where the video file wasrecorded or created, or any other information relating to the video.Tagging of the video content may be performed manually, or automaticallyusing computer vision and machine learning software that may recognizeobjects and landmarks in images and auto tag them. The one or more tagsmay be associated with the video file before the video content is storedin memory (170), while the video content is stored in memory (170), orafter the video content is stored in memory (170).

At Step 220, the software generates an instruction to the user to recorda master video. Again, device 100 can present this instruction visuallyby display 153 or audibly by speaker 134.

At Step 230, the user records a master video. The master video,including a video track and an audio track, is recorded using camera 156and microphone 132 operating under software instructions running on oneof the processors. During recording of the master video, the display 153may show the video as it is being recorded. As the master video is beingrecorded, at Step 240, speech recognition software stored on the devicemay monitor the words being spoken by the user and recorded as part ofthe master video.

At Step 250, if a word or phrase spoken by the user matches a tag of avideo file, or in the alternative if a word or phrase spoken by the useris similar to or related to a tag of a video file, the software mayretrieve from memory video content having a tag corresponding to thatspoken word. For example, if the user is recording a video during avisit to San Francisco and stored on the device is a digital photographof the Golden Gate Bridge, then when the user mentions the phrase“Golden Gate Bridge” while recording the master video, the software mayretrieve from memory the digital photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge.The software may then display the video content, in this example theimage of the Golden Gate Bridge, or a thumb-nail image of the videocontent on display 153.

A first digital colored frame may be depicted adjacent to the border ofthe display 153 to indicate that the final presentation will depict themaster video during the time that the frame is displayed. The firstframe may be black, white, or any color. At the time that a video clipis to be depicted in the final presentation, the first frame may beremoved and a second frame may be displayed around the thumb-nail imageof the video clip. The second frame may also be black, white, or anycolor, including a different color than the first frame. Each frame mayfade, be erased linearly or otherwise may be gradually removed toindicate that time until the display of video track of the video filewill end. Device 100 may also display during recording of the mastervideo, starting at the time that the video track of a video clip wouldbe inserted, a countdown timer indicating the time remaining before theend of the video content.

In the alternative, while the master video is recorded, the device maynot display video content retrieved from memory video. Instead, videocontent having a tag corresponding to a word or phrase spoken by theuser while recording the master video may be only selected by thesoftware. Regardless of whether retrieved video content is displayedduring recording of the master video, the software saves data concerningthe locations in the master video where the word or phrase correspondingto a tag of a video file was spoken.

To the extent that the video content has a time duration, such as ashort recorded film, Immediately after the master video is recorded,device 100 may automatically truncate the video content using apre-specified algorithm that is implemented in software. In oneembodiment, the video content may be truncated to a predeterminedduration.

At Step 260 device 100 automatically replaces one or more portions ofthe video track of the master video with the video track(s)—or thetruncated video tracks if truncating is performed—of the video files. Inthis context, “inserted” means replacing a portion of the video track ofthe master video with the video track of the video file. The softwaremay create a video presentation that comprises a first portion of thevideo track of the master video, followed by the video track of thevideo file, followed by an end portion of the video track of the mastervideo.

In the example embodiments described above, the audio track of the finalpresentation may comprise solely the audio track of the master video. Inthe alternative, at Step 270, the software generates an invitation tothe user to select music to add as an additional audio track or toreplace the audio track of the master video. At Step 280 audio effectssuch as the selected music track and visual effects such as fades anddissolves may be automatically added by the software to the master videoand truncated video clips to produce the finished video presentation.

In other embodiments, the user can specify the length of the finishedvideo presentation; the software can automatically add a pre-selectedgraphic to the beginning and/or ending of the finished videopresentation; or the software can use a pre-loaded table to determinethe length of the presentation depending on the type of presentation. Ifa graphic is added at the beginning and/or end of the final videopresentation, the software may set the volume of the music to a certainfirst level when the graphic is displayed, and set the volume of themusic to a second level while the video track of the master video andthe video file(s) are displayed. For example, the volume of the music atthe second level may be lower than the volume at the first level. Thesoftware may also overlay any of the videos with text. For example, thesoftware may display the name of the user at the bottom of the mastervideo. The software may prompt the user to enter their name prior torecording the master video. In the alternative, the user may enter theirname or any other text at any time prior to recording the master video.In another alternative embodiment, the user may be required to enterlogin information (e.g. a login name and password) before using thesoftware. The software may then determine the name of the user based onthe login information presented, and display the name of the user orother information relating to the user (e.g., the user's email address,phone number, corporate title) in the master video.

In some embodiments, the user records only an audio track, so only videocontent is displayed in the final video composition. In anotherembodiment, instead of recording a master video or an audio track, theuser may select a pre-recorded master video or a prerecorded audio trackto be used by the software to create the video presentation.

The software may be preconfigured or configured by the user as to howmany or a maximum number of video files will be in the finished videopresentation that is produced in a particular editing assignment. Thus,in some embodiments of the invention, the user is offered no choice inthe number of video files; and the software utilizes up to apreconfigured number of video files. In other embodiments, when thesoftware is activated, the user is invited to specify how many videofiles he would like in the finished video presentation. Illustratively,device 100 presents on display 153 a message asking the user how manyvideo files he would like to use. The user may respond by entering anumber via keyboard 159 or by selecting a number on the display.Alternatively, the user may be queried by a voice message using speaker134, and the user may respond with a spoken number.

In an alternative embodiment, rather than request a number of videofiles from the user, device 100 may ask the user to specify what type ofvideo presentation is to be produced. The software may then determinefrom a look-up table the number or maximum number of video files to beused with that type of presentation. In some embodiments, the user maybe given the option to alter the number determined from the look-uptable. Where the user is asked to specify the type of videopresentation, device 100 may present on display 153 a list of types ofvideo presentations and requests the user to select one of the types.

FIGS. 3A-3C are schematic diagrams illustrating the video editingalgorithm of FIG. 2. FIG. 3A depicts video files Video Clip 1 and VideoClip 2, each having an audio track (VC1-AT and VC2-AT, respectively) anda video track (VC1-VT and VC2-VT, respectively). The master video isalso depicted as having an audio track (MAT) and a video track (MVT).

FIG. 3B depicts a final presentation compiled by the software when onevideo file is inserted. The first portion of the video track of themaster video (MVT(a)) and the last portion of the video track of themaster video (MVT(b)) are retained. The middle portion of the videotrack of the master video is replaced with the video track of Video Clip1 (VC1-VT). The audio track of the master video may be used for theduration of the final presentation.

FIG. 3C depicts a final presentation compiled by the software when twovideo files are inserted. The first portion of the video track of themaster video (MVT(c)), a middle portion of the video track of the mastervideo (MVT(d)), and the last portion of the video track of the mastervideo (MVT(e)) are retained. Two portions of the video track of themaster video are replaced with the video track of Video Clip 1 (VC1-VT)and the video track of Video Clip 2 (VC2-VT), respectively. The audiotrack of the master video is used for the duration of the finalpresentation. In the alternative, the video track of Video Clip 2 may beinserted immediately after the video track of Video Clip 1. In thatembodiment, only a first portion and a last portion of the video trackof the master video would be maintained. The final presentation woulddepict a first portion of the master video, the video track of VideoClip 1, the video track of Video Clip 2, and the last portion of themaster video. The audio track of the master video may be used for theduration of the final presentation.

By combining the tagged video files selected based on recorded words orphrases, the device directed master clip, and the automatic editingalgorithms, the finished video presentation can be automaticallyassembled without further user input in a machine based transformationmuch faster than with traditional manual video editing software.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the steps of an exemplary method forgenerating and determining the effectiveness of a presentation. Acomputer system, an electronic device, or a plurality of electronicdevices may be used to perform some or all of the steps. At Step 410 apresentation is created. The presentation may be an audio presentationor a video presentation. The term “video presentation” as used hereinincludes presentations that have audio content, such as an audio track.A video presentation may be created using any number of devices,systems, or methods. Example devices, systems, and methods are describedabove. Other example systems, devices, and methods for creating videopresentations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,737,815 and U.S. PatentPublication No. 2018/0061455, which are incorporated herein byreference.

In the exemplary case of salespersons of a company or other organizationcreating presentations to be sent to clients or prospective clients,each salesperson may create and store their own audio presentation orvideo presentation. To standardize the messaging presented by thesalespersons and/or to facilitate analysis of the delivery of thepresentations, each audio presentation or the audio content of eachvideo presentation may be based on a script which each salesperson mayread while recording the presentation. The script may be provided, forexample, by the salespersons' employer. A script may provide someuniformity to the presentations, but the presentations may not beperfectly synchronized. For example, even if each salesperson recordsthe same words, each salesperson may speak at a different speed,resulting in a presentation that may be longer or shorter than theaverage length presentation. Also, each salesperson may personalizepresentations by recording a unique presentation for each intendedrecipient, and the salesperson may address the recipient, for example byname, in the presentation. Each salesperson may also end thepresentation in a different way by, for example, suggesting a time tomeet, a time to talk on the phone, or a request that the intendedrecipient contact the salesperson. However, the use of a script isintended to ensure that at least the recorded words of a presentationare substantially the same as the script, and/or that the recorded wordsof a plurality of presentations by multiple salespersons aresubstantially the same as each other. If at least 75% or at least 80% orat least 85% or at least 90% or at least 95% or at least 97% or at least99% or 100% of the recorded words between two or more presentations areidentical, then the recorded words may be considered substantially thesame.

Recorded presentations may be stored on one or more computer storagemedia, such as memory of a computer and/or server. A processor of thecomputer, server, or other device may determine and/or control thelocation of the computer storage medium in which each presentation isstored.

At Step 420, each recorded presentation may be delivered to, forexample, a client or prospective client. The presentation may bedelivered by transmitting a link to the stored presentation. Forexample, a link to the stored video presentation, or to a webpage wherethe presentation may be played, may be transmitted by including the linkin an electronic mail message, a text message, or other messagingsoftware, that is sent to an intended recipient via the Internet. Thelink may be, for example, contained within HTML code. Also, if HTML codecontaining the link is displayed within the email, the link may beconcealed under, for example, a clickable static image or a GIF that mayshow one or more portions of the presentation. The message may, but neednot, include content other than the link, such as an introduction fromthe sender of the message, a description of the presentation, and/orinstructions for accessing the presentation by selecting the link.

A single presentation may also be sent to multiple recipients. A linkmay be included in multiple messages, wherein each message istransmitted to a single recipient. In addition, or in the alternative, amessage containing a link to the presentations may be transmitted tomultiple recipients.

A message containing the link may be accessed, for example, by openingthe message in a program on an electronic device, such as a desktopcomputer, laptop computer, tablet, smart phone, or other device. Themessage may be viewed, for example, within its own window on the devicedisplay screen, may encompass the entire display screen, or may beviewed in a sub-window within an application, such as an emailapplication. The link may be selected by clicking on the link with acomputer mouse, touching the link on a touch-sensitive display screen,or by any other computer input device or method.

In the alternative, the presentation may be delivered with the message,without a link to the presentation. The presentation may be included asan attachment to the message. A presentation attached to a message maybe opened by selecting (e.g. double clicking with a mouse pointer) anicon corresponding to the presentation. In addition or in thealternative, the presentation may play within the message widow inresponse to the message being accessed, without any further input fromthe recipient of the message. Software included with the message mayplay the presentation when the message is accessed. A presentationplayed within a message window may be, for example, attached to themessage, or may be streamed from a remote computer storage medium wherethe presentation is stored.

If the message is sent with a link that may be used to access thepresentation, at Step 430, in response to selection of the link, asignal may be transmitted from the device on which the link is selected.The signal may include a request for the presentation associated withthe link. The signal may be received by the processor that stored thepresentation, or by another processor that may be in communication withthe computer storage medium where the presentation is stored.

At Step 440, a processor that receives the signal may transmit thepresentation or cause the presentation to be transmitted by anotherprocessor from the storage medium in which it was saved. Thepresentation may be transmitted to the device that transmitted thesignal requesting the presentation, and/or the presentation may betransmitted to another device. The presentation may be transmitted bystreaming the presentation, or by transmitting the entire presentationor part of the presentation as a file.

In addition, software may be transmitted to the device when thepresentation is transmitted. The software may be used to play thepresentation and/or monitor playing of the presentation as furtherdiscussed below. Software used to play the presentation may cause thepresentation to be played within a window used to view the messageand/or in a separate window. In addition or in the alternative, softwareused to play or monitor playing of the presentation may be transmittedwith the message containing the link, for example, as an attachment tothe message or embedded within the message.

At Step 450, the presentation may be played on a device, such as thedevice on which the message was viewed and the link was selected. If thepresentation is a video presentation, playing the presentation mayinclude displaying a video portion of the presentation on, for example,a computer display screen, or a smartphone or tablet screen. Thepresentation may be played within a webpage of an internet web browser.For example, the presentation may be downloaded to the cache of a webbrowser. As another example, selecting the link may cause a video playerapplication to launch and play the presentation. In addition or in thealternative, playing the presentation may include playing an audioportion of the presentation from speakers connected to or incorporatedinto the device.

When the presentation is received by a device, the presentation may beplayed without any additional user input to the device. In thealternative, when the presentation is received by a device, the devicemay provide an indication, such as a sound, a light, or a graphical userinterface element on the display of the device, that the presentationhas been received and/or that the presentation may be played on thedevice. If such an indication is provided, a user of the device mayprovide an input to the device to request that the presentation beplayed, and the device may play the presentation in response thereto.

At Step 460, while the presentation is played on the device, softwarestored on a computer storage medium remote from the device, and/orsoftware transmitted to the device and/or software stored on the devicemay be used to monitor, record, and/or save information concerningplayback of the presentation, such as the duration of time that thepresentation is played, which portions of the presentation are played,how many times the presentation is played or begins playing, and/orwhich portions of the presentation, if any, are played multiple timesand the number of times each of those portions is played. For example,if the presentation is played within a web browser, the web browserand/or software contained within the web page may determine, for exampleat periodic intervals (e.g. every second), the time location within thepresentation that is played. To the extent that information concerningplayback of the presentation is monitored and/or recorded by softwarestored on the device, the software may transmit the informationconcerning playback to another device, server, or system for processing.For example, the information may be transmitted to the computer orserver on which the presentation was stored at Step 410.

The software may record or be provided the total length of time forwhich the presentation was recorded (Tt), and playback information suchas the total number of times that the presentation is played on thedevice from the beginning to the end of the presentation (Nt)—which mayincluding the number of times that the presentation is paused one ormore times but each time resumed without closing the presentation—andfor each time that the presentation is played from the beginning butstopped and closed before reaching the end, the duration of time thatthe presentation was played (Ts).

At Step 470, playback information concerning playing of one or morepresentations may be combined, analyzed, and/or reported. In addition orin the alternative, software may be used to determine and/or provide areport of the number of times a presentation was played but terminatedbefore end of the presentation (Ns), and the duration that thepresentation was played each time (Ts). For example, the software mayreport that the first 50% of a presentation was played four times andthe first 25% of the presentation was played three times.

If the audio content constitutes spoken words, software which mayinclude speech recognition software may be used to provide a furtherdetailed analysis of the extent to which a presentation was played. Forexample, software used to analyze the playback information may determinethe extent to which a presentation was played from the beginning of thepresentation to a particular character, syllable, word, phrase, orsentence in the presentation. For example, the software may be used tocompare the duration of time for which a presentation is played (Ts)each time it is played, with the timed location within the presentationcorresponding to when a particular character, syllable, word, phrase, orsentence is said. The software may then be used to determine the numberand/or percent of times that the presentation was played from thebeginning to that character, syllable, word, phrase, or sentence.

Speech recognition software may be used to improve analysis of theplayback information, including when multiple presentations areanalyzed. Specifically, based on playback data concerning the time atwhich a presentation was stopped, speech recognition software may readthe presentation up until that point and determine the words that wereplayed and/or the last word that was played before the presentation wasstopped. Alternatively, a particular word, phrase, or sentence may beinput to speech recognition software, and the speech recognitionsoftware may determine the location(s) within a presentationcorresponding to when a particular word, phrase, or sentence wasrecorded. If multiple presentation are analyzed together, thatdetermination may be used to assess the number and/or percent of timesthat the presentations were played from the beginning to a particularword, phrase, or sentence without having to determine where within eachpresentation the word, phrase, or sentence was spoken.

If the audio content of the presentation is predetermined or otherwiseknown at the time of analysis because, for example, the audio contentconstitutes recorded words read from a script, a more detailed analysismay be made. The script may be saved as a digital file, such as a textfile or a Microsoft Word document. As explained above, software can beused to determine the percentage of a presentation that is played beforeit is stopped (Tp) (e.g., 50% of the presentation). As discussed furtherbelow, that percentage can be combined with the script to create a “heatmap” depicting the words that were played before the presentation wasstopped.

In the alternative, speech recognition software may be used to firstidentify the word, phrases, and/or sentences spoken within apresentation, or a plurality of presentations each with substantiallythe same words. For each presentation, a script input to the speechrecognition software may be used to correct misidentified words. Then arecord may be made of what time from the beginning of each presentationeach of the words, phrases, or sentences recorded for the presentationis spoken. Playback information concerning the time each presentationwas stopped (Ts) may then be used to reference that record to determineup to which word, phrase, and/or sentence was played.

The number of characters, syllables, and/or words recorded for apresentation may also be used to determine the extent to which thepresentation was played. The total number of characters (Ct), syllables(St), and/or words (Wt) of a presentation may be counted by speechrecognition software. In addition or in the alternative, the totalnumber of characters (Ct), syllables (St), and/or words (Wt) of apresentation, may be determined from a character or word count functionof, for example, a word processing program, based on a digital filecontaining the text of the words spoken during the presentation (e.g., ascript provided by a salespersons' employer). Software may be used todivide playback data indicating the time at which a presentation wasstopped (Ts) by the total length of the presentation (Tt) to determinethe percentage of the presentation that was played (Tp). The percentageof the presentation that was played (Tp) may be multiplied by the totalnumber of characters (Ct), the total number of syllables (St), and/orthe total number of words (Wt) spoken during the presentation todetermine the last character (Cs), syllable (Ss) and/or word (Ws) withinthe presentation approximately where the presentation was stopped (e.g.,Cs=Tp×Ct; Ss=Tp×St; Ws=Tp×Wt).

As a specific example, a presentation may include words having 300characters (Ct), and the total length of the presentation may be fiveminutes (Tt). If playback of the presentation is stopped two minutes(Ts) after starting the presentation, software may be used to calculatethat the percentage of the presentation that was played (Tp=Ts/Tt) was40%, and the presentation was stopped at approximately character 120(Cs=Tp×Ct).

Speech recognition software may be used to determine, while thepresentation is playing, the last word played when a presentation isstopped, particularly when the presentation is stopped before the end ofthe presentation. Speech recognition software on the device on which thepresentation is played, and/or speech recognition software stored on thedevice or system from which the presentation is streamed, may monitorplayback of the presentation as it is played and determine the last wordplayed up until the time that the presentation is stopped, and/or thenumber of characters, syllables, and/or words that are played up untilthe time that the presentation is stopped.

Software may also be used to report and/or display data and/or otherinformation concerning the extent to which a presentation or a pluralityof presentations are played. For example, software may be used todisplay a heat map showing the characters or words (i.e. text) of apresentation and a graphic representation of the extent to which aportion or portions of the text were included in the presentationcontaining the text were played. A heat map generated in accordance withthe present invention may depict information concerning a singlepresentation which may have been viewed one time by one viewer, multipletimes by one viewer, one time each by multiple viewers, or one or moretimes by multiple viewers. In the alternative, a heat map generated inaccordance with the present invention may depict information concerninga plurality of presentations, wherein each presentation may have beenviewed one time by one viewer, multiple times by one viewer, one timeeach by multiple viewers, or one or more times by multiple viewers. Tothe extent that a heat map is generated from information collected frommore than one presentation playback, the information depicted in theheat map may reflect an average of data calculated for each playback.

FIG. 5 depicts a display of an exemplary text heat map. The words of theheat map may be a script that was read when the presentation wasrecorded. A digital file containing the words of the script may beloaded or opened within the software used to generate a text heat map.In the alternative, speech recognition software may generate the wordsof a heat map from the audio portion of a presentation.

Overlaid on the text depicted in FIG. 5 are boxes enclosing differentpercentages of the text. For example, Box (510) surrounds the entiretext and represents playback of 100% of the words of the presentation.Boxes (520, 530, 540) surround smaller portions of the text andcorrespond to smaller percentages of times for which the presentation towas played. For example, box (520) may enclose 75% of the text, box(530) may enclose 50% of the text, and box (540) may enclose 25% of thetext. A legend or other indication may be used to convey the percentagethat each box represents. If a presentation is played multiple times,either on the same device or on multiple devices, playback informationidentifying the percent of the presentation played each time it isplayed may be mapped to the text and used to show the extent to whichthe words of the text were played.

As an example, if a presentation is played 10 times, five of those times(50%) the entire presentation may be played, three of those times (30%)only the first 25% of the presentation may be played, and two of thosetimes (20%), only 50% of the presentation may be played. In thatexample, software used to analyze the playback information may reportthat the portion of the text enclosed by box (510) was played 50% of thetime, the portion of the text enclosed by box (530) was played 20% ofthe time, and the portion of the text enclosed by box (540) was played30% of the time.

Other graphical indicators and/or elements may be used to conveyplayback information using a heat map. For example, colors, a colorgradient, and/or a gray gradient may be used instead of boxes todelineate between portions of the text that were played. For example,the portion of the text surrounded by box (540) may be highlighted witha light blue color, the portion of the text surrounded by box (530) maybe highlighted with a darker blue color, and so on.

To the extent that the number of characters and/or syllables recordedfor a presentation are used to determine the extent to which apresentation was played, the identified last character and/or syllableplayed may be a character or syllable that is not at the end of a word.Referring to the text in FIG. 5 as an example, software used todetermine the extent to which a presentation was played might identitythe letter “g” in the word “messages” at the end of box (530) as thelast letter played. Software used to display the heat map may beconfigured “round up,” i.e., have each graphical element showing theextent to which a presentation was played (e.g. box (530)) include theentire word containing the last played letter or syllable. In thealternative, software used to display the heat map may be configured“round down,” i.e., have each graphical element showing the extent towhich a presentation was played include only the last full word played.In the example given above, if software is configured to “round down,”and the letter “g” in the word “messages” at the end of box (530) isdetermined to be the last letter of a presentation played, the word“messages” would not be indicated as played.

In the alternative, one or more color and/or gray scale gradients may beused to account for an approximate determination of the last character,syllable or word played. For example, for two adjacent highlightedportions of text on a heat map, the highlight color of one portion mayfade into the highlight color of the adjacent portion. In thealternative, for two adjacent portions of colored text on a heat map,the font color of one portion may fade into the font color of theadjacent portion.

For a video presentation, the heat map may also include imagescorresponding to the visual elements of a presentation at one or moreportions of the presentation. For example, one or more title graphicsmay be presented at the start and/or end of the video presentation. Thetitle graphics may display information such as a company name, the nameof the person who recorded the presentation, the date that thepresentation is recorded or transmitted, the title of the presentation,and/or the total run time for the presentation. The heat may map mayinclude one or more images of the title graphics, for example, asthumbnail images. The heat map may also include images from thepresentation that may be, for example, screen shots taken at particularparts of the presentation and/or video content as described above. Theimages may be positioned at one or both sides, at the top, and/or at thebottom of the text of the heat map. To the extent that the images arepresented at the side of the heat map, they may be positionedhorizontally in line with, or approximately horizontally in line with,the text spoken at the time the image is displayed during thepresentation. For example, one or more images may be positioned to theside of the text and in line with the text spoken at the time the imageis first displayed.

Without speech recognition software, matching the percentage playbackinformation to the boxes (510, 520, 530, 540) or other graphicalelements may yield only an approximation of the extent to which thewords of the script were played. By using the percentage of apresentation played as proxy for the percent of the scripted wordsspoken, the software may not precisely determine which words were infact played. However, speech recognition software may be used inconjunction with the percentage of a presentation played to determinewhich words were played. For example, after determining the length oftime a presentation is played up until when it is stopped (Ts), speechrecognition software can be used to analyze the presentation todetermine the portions of the presentation that were played, includingthe last word that was played. Also, if the audio content of apresentation follows a script, a digital file of the script may be inputto the speech recognition software to improve recognition of the wordsof the presentation.

An example of speech recognition software assisted by words input to thesoftware is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,708. That patent disclosesa method for performing speech recognition using a supplementary lexiconof frequently used orthographies. Instead of providing a supplementarylexicon, the script read aloud by the salesperson(s) while creating thevideo presentation may be input to speech recognition software toimprove recognition of the words read aloud. Another example is U.S.Pat. No. 9,218,807.

Speech recognition software may also be used to determine the extent towhich the words recorded for a presentation follow a script. Forexample, speech recognition software may be used to calculate apercentage of words from the presentation that match the script. Inaddition or in the alternative, speech recognition software can be usedto display the text of the presentation, and the differences between thetext and script. For example, words included in the presentation but notin the script and/or words included in the script but not in thepresentation may be shown with particular fonts or/or graphical element(e.g., underlining, strikethrough, italics, font color, font size, fonttype, highlighting).

Although the invention is described above using the example ofpresentations created and distributed by salespersons, the invention isnot restricted to that context. Instead, the invention may be used inany context, and is not limited to sales presentations.

Numerous variations may be made in the practice of the invention.Computing device 100 is only illustrative of computing systems and userinterfaces that may be used in the practice of the invention. Theprocessing unit(s) 110, memory 170, display 153 and camera(s) 156 mayall be enclosed in one casing as in a smartphone or the like; or some orall of these components may be in separate units. If these componentsare separate, they may all be located near to one another as on adesk-top; or they may be considerable distances apart. For example, thememory, camera and display may be at one location while the processorthat controls these components in the practice of the invention may beelsewhere connected by a communication link such as the Internet.

Numerous variations may be practiced in the steps described in FIG. 2.For example, some embodiments may not provide for selection of a musicsoundtrack for use in the finished video presentation.

While the invention has been described with reference to the preferredembodiment and alternative embodiments, which embodiments have been setforth in considerable detail for the purposes of making a completedisclosure of the invention, such embodiments are merely exemplary andare not intended to be limiting or represent an exhaustive enumerationof all aspects of the invention. The scope of the invention, therefore,shall be defined solely by the following claims. Further, it will beapparent to those of skill in the art that numerous changes may be madein such details without departing from the spirit and the principles ofthe invention. It should be appreciated that the invention is capable ofbeing embodied in other forms without departing from its essentialcharacteristics.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A computer implemented method for generating anevaluation of playback of one or more digital files, comprising: storinga first digital media file on a computer storage medium, wherein thefirst digital media file includes an audio recording comprising aplurality of spoken words; transmitting the first digital media file toa plurality of devices; receiving from one or more of the plurality ofdevices playback data identifying the duration of time that the firstdigital media file was played on each device from which playback data isreceived; determining the last word of the audio recording played oneach of the plurality of devices from which playback data is received;displaying on a computer display the plurality of spoken words;depicting a first graphic element indicating the last word of the audiorecording that was played on a first subset of the plurality of devices,wherein the first subset comprises at least one device.
 21. The computerimplemented method of claim 20, wherein the first graphic elementcomprises highlighting applied to the displayed text.
 22. The computerimplemented method of claim 21, wherein a gradient is applied to thefirst graphic element.
 23. The computer implemented method of claim 20,further comprising depicting a second graphic element indicating thelast word of the audio recording that was played on a second subset ofthe plurality of devices, wherein the second subset comprises at leastone device.
 24. The computer implemented method of claim 23, wherein thefirst graphic element and the second graphic element each comprisehighlighting applied to the displayed text.
 25. The computer implementedmethod of claim 24, wherein a gradient is applied to the first graphicelement and the second graphic element.
 26. The computer implementedmethod of claim 23, further comprising depicting a third graphic elementindicating the last word of the audio recording that was played on athird subset of the plurality of devices, wherein the third subsetcomprises at least one device.
 27. The computer implemented method ofclaim 26, wherein the first graphic element, the second graphic element,and the third graphic element each comprise highlighting applied to thedisplayed text.
 28. The computer implemented method of claim 27, whereina gradient is applied to the first graphic element, the second graphicelement, and the third graphic element.
 29. The computer implementedmethod of claim 20, further comprising, before displaying on thecomputer display the plurality of spoken words, using speech recognitionsoftware to determine the plurality of spoken words.
 30. A computerimplemented method for generating an evaluation of playback of digitalmedia files, comprising: transmitting a first set of one or more digitalmedia files to one or more devices, wherein each digital media file inthe first set of digital media files includes an audio recordingcomprising a first plurality of spoken words; transmitting a second setof one or more digital media files to one or more devices, wherein eachdigital media file in the second set of digital media files includes anaudio recording comprising a plurality of spoken words that aresubstantially the same as the words of the first plurality of spokenwords; receiving data from the devices to which the first set of one ormore digital media files and the second set of digital media files weretransmitted, wherein the data identifies the duration of time each ofthe digital media files was played on a device; determining the lastword of the audio recording played on each of the plurality of devicesfrom which data is received; displaying on a computer display the firstplurality of spoken words; depicting a first graphic element indicatinga first portion of the plurality of spoken words played on the devices.31. The computer implemented method of claim 30, further comprisingreporting the percentage of devices from which data was received onwhich the first portion of the plurality spoken words was played. 32.The computer implemented method of claim 30, wherein the first graphicelement comprises highlighting applied to the displayed text.
 33. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 32, wherein a gradient is appliedto the first graphic element.
 34. The computer implemented method ofclaim 30, further comprising depicting a second graphic elementindicating a second portion of the plurality of spoken words played onthe devices.
 35. The computer implemented method of claim 34, furthercomprising reporting the percentage of devices from which data wasreceived on which the second portion of the plurality spoken words wasplayed.
 36. The computer implemented method of claim 34, wherein thefirst graphic element and the second graphic element each comprisehighlighting applied to the displayed text.
 37. The computer implementedmethod of claim 36, wherein a gradient is applied to the first graphicelement and the second graphic element.
 38. The computer implementedmethod of claim 34, further comprising depicting a third graphic elementindicating a third portion of the plurality of spoken words played onthe devices.
 39. The computer implemented method of claim 38, furthercomprising reporting the percentage of devices from which data wasreceived on which the third portion of the plurality spoken words wasplayed.
 40. The computer implemented method of claim 38, wherein thefirst graphic element, the second graphic element, and the third graphicelement each comprise highlighting applied to the displayed text. 41.The computer implemented method of claim 40, wherein a gradient isapplied to the first graphic element, the second graphic element, andthe third graphic element.
 42. The computer implemented method of claim30, further comprising, before displaying on the computer display thefirst plurality of spoken words, using speech recognition software todetermine the first plurality of spoken words.